Mounted Archery

[¤-Elessar-¤]

Elessar sent a servant from the Temple of Eru, and he awaited at the mighty gate of the building, with the explicit instructions to guide all who arive for their classes to a field outside of the southern wing of the Temple.

[Goldberry344]

Goldie approached the man hesitantly, hoping she was in the right place. "Sir, am I to be here for mounted archery classes?"

[¤-Elessar-¤]

Yes, Lady Goldberry. You are expected here. Please have a seat on yonder bench, and wait to see if others dare to show.

[Goldberry344]

Goldie raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the man, wondering what he meant by "dared", but she followed his instrutions, and sat on the bench.

[Legolaschick]

Vannaanooniel ran in.
"I hope this is the right place," She panted.
She was holding her golden bow and silver arrows in each hand. She slowed her pace to a light jog. She slowed even more when she saw the man who must have been in charge.
"Hello, am I in the right place? Is this were you learn to do archery on horses'?" She said smiling.

[¤-Elessar-¤]

The servant standing at the gate nodded to the two women, and signaled for them to follow him. They transversed a great walkway around the temple, and came at last to another great gate. The servant looked up, and was recognised by the guard on duty. The gate was opened, and he and the trainees made their way into the grassy field that lay beyond. Over to the northern side of the field, very near to the temple, was a row of benches, where the two trainees took their seats.

The trainees had been sitting there for nearly five minutes, taking in the serene beauty around them, when footsteps were heard on the ramparts behind them. They instinctively turned their heads, and saw a man in a dull grey robe walking some three hundred feet above them. The man turned, and from what looked to be solid wall, a doorway opened. He dissapeared into it's depths. All was quiet for a moment, as the trainees wondered at the strange incident, but then, from around a curve in the temple, the man appeared again. He walked up to them, and stood in front of the benches.

He lowered his hood, and a small smile arose over his face. "I am Elessar Telcontar the second, grey wizard and member of the Grand Council. Welcome to this afternoon's course. I trust that you all know where you are, and that it is where you are supposed to be? Come, stand before me and tell me your names.

[Goldberry344]

Goldberry stood in front of Elessar, and all nervousness she had felt dissapeared at the sight of his smile. "I am Goldberry, sir", she replied.

[Legolaschick]

[/B] Vanaanooniel got up.[/I] "Sir, I'm Vanaanooniel." [/I] She said with a wide smile on her face. [/I] "I do belive I will like this teacher." [/I] She said to herself. [/B]

[¤-Elessar-¤]

"Vanaanooniel," Elessar repeated, letting the word roll from his toung and from his mind. "Yes, you have a beautiful name. I am pleased to meet you." He bowed slightly, before turning to Goldberry. "And yes, Goldie, it has been a long time since I have seen you, and I am pleased to do so."

[¤-Elessar-¤]

"Now that we have all met, I say look around you. You will be the first of the Heren Istarion to be archers, the first graduates of the first semester." He let them think a minute, knowing that there wasn't much to think about, but letting them wonder regardless.

"Now, you may leave your bows and arrows and quivers and knives and such here, you will not be needing them. When you are ready, I shall be waiting for you behind that white gate to the south."

With that he strode off to the south, leaving them to their own.

[Goldberry344]

Goldie glanced over at Vanaanooniel, smiling. In an almost mechanical state, Goldie unarmed herself, carefully leaving her weapons where they would be safe. She waited for Vanaanooniel to do the same.

[Legolaschick]

Vanaaooniel unarmed herself too. "Well, let us be on our way than Goldie." She smiled to herself. This would be a very interesting class.

[¤-Elessar-¤]

The two trainees made their way through the ordinate white gate, and came at last to the training yard. There were four or five horses tethered to a post in a small coral, and there were carts and such with strange supplies and targets. Elessar stood, waving them on to where he stood behind the supply cart.

They came to him, and he looked on them. "Here are the bows you shall use today." He handed them each a bow, that seemed to them to be lesser than one of orcish fashion. They were no more than children's playthings, actually. Their wood was old, and was chipping off and warping in many places. The horses hair that made up their strings was popping in a few places, and was becoming streched beyond it's natural limits.

Next they were to receive their arrows. No quivers, and only five arrows a piece. And even they, the simplest of the tools of archery, did not seem to be arrows. They seemed, instead, to be the straighter batch of twigs and branches, harvested from the forrest floor, with tiny, rock ends tied into place.

After a few moments for them to contemplate the odd tools, Elessar spoke. "These tools are like those of your ancestors. They are the make and the quality of a time when the land was dark with fear, and a shadow ruled a world deviod of the light of the west. These men would eventually come to be strong, strong enough to fight off the forces of a dark lord of old. They were men who eventually faught under the banners and princes of Numenore, and in the end, defeated their wrong-doer.

Now, as you should know, the men of which I speak are the men of the dark age. And though they are not the greatest of the archers of all time, they are where we shall start. I am sure that your other teachers will tell you otherwise, but you must walk before you can run. And you must learn to shoot the hard way, before the easy way is handed to you."

He turned, and motioned for them to follow him. He turned around to face them when they had reached the center of the field. "You have twenty minutes to re-create the weapons of which you were given. You may use anything that you can find within the fenced area, which does include that small batch of trees to the north."

[Legolaschick]

"Anything, my lord?" said Legolaschick, "but not the tree's? O.K."

[Goldberry344]

Goldie swiftly went to work, gathering dry, straight brances. She found a longer one she could try as a bow, and though of what she would use for a string. As she pondered a string, she stripped leaves and small branches from her selections, making sure the ones she had were straight as possible, and discarding them if they were not.

When she had reached the bottom of her small pile of possible arrows, she reached for the prospective bow, stripping it as she had done the arrows. Then pulling several long, black hairs from her own head she twisted them together tightly in a rope braid, and tied two braids end to end.

As she finished stringing her newly made bow for the first time when she heard Elessar's voice telling them that the twenty minutes were up. Gathering her five remaining arrows and her bow, she walked briskly back to where her teacher was.

[Legolaschick]

Vanaanooniel quickly started going trought looking for potental arrows, making sure that they were straight and that the leaves and smaller twiges were all off of the twigs. next she sat and pulled some hairs from her head, she also pulled a hair from one of the hores. She also found a stick that would work for a bow. She also tryed to make the arrows she had gotten a little better. Time called Elessar.

[elfgirl]

A person came in, clad in a green cloak. She already had a armful of twigs, a sturdy but thin vine, and was holding a rather large stick. "Ugh!!! Can I come into ANY class late!! I did not mean to!! Oh, well. I cannot turn the clock back."

[Findarato]

Findarato walked closer to the group, and noticed that he was late. "Oops."

[¤-Elessar-¤]

Elessar nodded to the newcommers, after accepting both Vanaanooniel and Goldberry's arrows. "Today's classes are over, but when you return I will not be here. I have found that time is slipping away from my grasp, and I have not enough to spend here. I am sorry for that, but I cannot allow you to all fail. I will have ILLOTRTM finish your lessons, he will decide wether you will take them here or where he teaches your other classes, though.

[Goldberry344]

Goldie bowed to Elessar, knowing the man had other duties, then she waited for the rest of the class and headed to the dorms.

[Legolaschick]

Vanaanooniel bowed low after Goldie,"I'm sorry you will not be able to teach us any more."

[CelebrianTiwele]

Celebrian watched the exchange between the wise wizard and the young elves. She had come up late and had not been bold enough to step in. She had not felt so self-concious for as long as she remembered. Although she was much older than many of the students, she realized how great and wise this place was. She looked forward the the later lessons.

[Legolaschick]

"Welcome, My lady I hope that I may learn all that you have to teach." Vanaanooniel said with a bow.

[ILLOTRTM]

ATTENTION:
Yes, it's too bad that Elessar will not be teaching this class anymore.... I thought a great job was being done! Well, I've decided to work mounted archery into my current curriculum. We'll be starting on it in a little while.

[Angoreth]

An elf rode in on her mustang mainstay "fair haven got off her horse and walked up to ILLOTRTM"I am sorry if I am late, but may I still join this class"asked fair haven as she looked at all the other students that were there, and wondered if she was the only one late.